Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend, 19 May 1945, Chiswick, London, England, the son of singer Betty Dennis and respected saxophonist Cliff Townshend. Having served his apprenticeship playing banjo in a dixieland jazz band, Pete joined the Detours as rhythm guitarist. This local attraction, which also featured Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, was a vital stepping-stone to the
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Roger Harry Daltrey, 1 March 1944, Hammersmith, London, England. Best-known as vocalist with the Who, Daltrey began his solo career in 1973. His debut album was produced by former pop singer Adam Faith and comprised several songs written by management protégé Leo Sayer. Giving It All Away reached the UK Top 5 but although Im Free,
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It is ironic that one of Britains most enduring and respected band spawned from the beat boom of the early 60s, received, for the best part of two decades, success, adulation and financial reward in the USA. This most English institution was able to fill stadiums in any part of the USA, while in Britain, a few thousand devotees watched their heroes perform in
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This pivotal heavy rock quartet was formed in September 1968 by British guitarist Jimmy Page (James Patrick Page, 9 January 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England) following the demise of his former band, the Yardbirds. John Paul Jones (b. John Baldwin, 3 January 1946, Sidcup, Kent, England; bass/keyboards), a respected arranger and session musician, replaced original member Chris
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John Alec Entwistle, 9 October 1944, Chiswick, London, England, d. 27 June 2002, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. As bass player (and occasional French horn player) in the Who, Entwistle provided the necessary bedrock to the bands individual sound. His immobile features and rigid stage manner provided the foil to his colleagues impulsive pyrotechnics, yet paradoxically it
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The origin of the phenomenon that became the Beatles can be traced to 1957 when Paul McCartney (James Paul McCartney, 18 June 1942, Liverpool, Lancashire, England) successfully auditioned at a church fête in Woolton, Liverpool, for the guitarists position in the Quarry Men, a skiffle group led by John Lennon (b. John Winston Lennon, 9 October 1940, Liverpool, L
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